Something clicked when Amanda Jean suggested this Scrap Basket Quilt Along. I have been whittling away at my stash, and this seemed like a fun way to use a lot of fabric. Boy’s quilts are especially needed, which caused me to think of the lonely pile of cowboy fabric scraps from Guthrie, OK, that has been waiting a long while to be used. When I dug it out, I found a pile of plaid scraps left from a graduation quilt (circa 2000). Okay, so a fun way to make two quilts.
The cowboy fabric was red, light, and blue, so it ended up like this.
I used up every smidge, including on the back, where I also added some orphan blocks, a solid, and a starry fabric. Perfect for a little cowboy to sleep under.
To quilt it, I first stitched in the ditch between all the blocks (per this post). I liked Amanda’s approach to the quilting (she stitched a trio of wavy lines down every column and across every row), but I wanted to change it up, so mine are twirling ropes and strands of barbed wire. Ouch! I alternated rows to leave blank areas.
I put hats on some. (Here’s the brown chalk stripe binding.)
And boots on others. I’m pretty happy with the results. Bottom Line on the bottom, Masterpiece on top.
I quickly decided to add khaki Kona to the plaids. I did that to provide a place for the eye to rest, but it turned out to be a good idea structure-wise. These woven plaids are very stretchy, and the solid really stabilized the whole top. By the way, fabrics from long ago were a few inches wider than today’s. I cut six sets of 6 1/2″ blocks from every set of sewn fabric strips, often with a bit left over to make into a block for the back.
I also used up included an unusual … mosquito? print fabric, also left from a graduation quilt of the same era.
This time I thought I would use the wavy lines, but just down and across the centers of the blocks, and really large. And, after I found my rhythm, I was really pleased with the way I free-motioned these with no marking.
The problem came when I turned the quilt and went across the original waves. It formed these nesting, 3/4 circle things. Actually, it makes giant puzzle pieces between/across the blocks. I’m not sure I like it. I looks vaguely like the quilting on a motel bedspread.
But, it’s very even, and, with the quilting between blocks, holds the quilt together very well. I used Superior’s Living Colors poly on top. I bound it with the last (reasonably stable) bit of plaid.
So, all and all, a fun couple of weeks and some learning, in the name of a good cause. See the rest of these Rail Fences at Amanda’s Scrap Basket Quilt Along over at Crazy Mom Quilts.
Evening in the Garden Quilts 